Present Time Incidents
by Rickashay
Summary: It's raining, and Kagome is stuck without an umbrella. That is, until a handsome stranger pulls her aside and walks her home. First Chapter, "A Walk from School."


Umbrella – Week 32# from firsttweak

Title: Walk from School

Rating: K+

AU

Genre: Romance/Hurt and Comfort

Words: 1575

Pairings: Inuyasha/Kagome

Warnings: It might be sort of…sad…

Summary: It's raining, and Kagome is stuck without an umbrella. That is, until a handsome stranger pulls her aside and walks her home.

Clutching her yellow bag to her chest, she darted away, maneuvering against the crowd as raindrops fell from above. It had been nearly five minutes after school had ended and her shirt was already soaked through! Since it was a white shirt, it made it even worse. People stopped and stared as the teenage girl hurried forward, trying to push against bystanders to reach shelter.

Water sloshed into her shoes, causing her to curse for her bad luck and being caught without an umbrella, especially since it was pouring. Now, when you think of pouring you think of the soft pitter-pattering as raindrops hit your window, however, this was truly pouring. Buckets and buckets of water rained down from the heavens, the noise of thunder rumbling, the cracking of lightening, all frightened her. She should not have been frightened of something that would probably not even harm her, but she could not help jumping when a flash of blue appeared in the clouds, or the echoing noises as thunder roared.

She paused against a brick wall, catching her breath. Fog clouded her vision and she felt dizzy from the rain. But she was almost home, just a block or more. She would need to still climb the stairs and with the rain so horrid, she was sure her mom would run down the stairs with an umbrella.

Pushing herself from the wall, she dashed away. Rain pummeled her as she was herded into a crowd. None offered her shelter from the rain, their umbrellas bumping against her as she shivered. Heaving her bag on her back, she gasped as she felt someone touch her elbow. She turned, fully expecting some pervert with beady eyes, greasy hair, and a rotten-toothy grin. Instead, she found herself looking into the eyes of a blue-eyed male, hair pulled back into a long pony-tail while his face was shadowed underneath his umbrella. His jaw-line tightened as she caught his eye, turning away briefly with an irritated look.

"I'm sorry, but I could not help but notice that you are without an umbrella." He gestured underneath his black umbrella. "If ya want you can join me under mine. I won't hurt you." His face softened, blue eyes crinkling at the edges.

Normally Kagome was a very good judge of character and despite him being in his early thirties, as she had guessed, he seemed harmless. She was also dripping wet, shivering, and with a bag filled with books that weighed a ton, she gave a nod of agreement, and with another quake of her shoulders, huddled next to him. The umbrella barely covered them both, but to her surprise and complete bewilderment, he pulled her slightly closer to him. It was enough to get a good whiff of his cologne and any sensible woman would have pulled away, but she just shrugged the arm that curled protectively around her shoulders. The jacket he wore shifted as he tried to pull off a sleeve, slapping the man walking beside them. The man swore, grumbling as he tried moving away from them.

"Where do you live?" the kind man asked, frowning distastefully at the passerby.

"Just up ahead." Kagome murmured, feeling the warmth of a jacket against her shoulders. She looked up, surprised to see the umbrella-holder jacketless and with a blue turtleneck-sweater. It matched his eyes exquisitely. _No, do not think about that. Inuyasha is the only one…_

She sighed at the thought, turning a corner as the stranger pulled her even closer. She pulled away quickly, stumbling.

"Clumsy," someone muttered under their breath.

"Sorry…" Kagome whispered back, cringing when a thunderclap echoed in the distance.

"I am Mr. Taisho, by the way." His lips stretched into a grin.

She smiled gently, ignoring the cold wind blasting against her. She shivered once again. Even with the jacket it was terribly cold. "Kagome Higurashi," she said with a shy nod of the head.

"Is this your place." He tilted his head to the shrine, a pleasant smile curving his lips, the strong jaw-line becoming even more pronounced.

"Ummhmm…" she gave a rather mournful shake of her head. She had planned on sitting underneath the sacred tree, hoping for a time to remember the past. But, if this person decided on interfering with that, there wasn't much she could do. "Would you like to come in?" _I shouldn't invite strange men in our house._ She thought with a faint, incredulous smile. Still, she owed this kind stranger and if it meant that Mama would give him some tea to warm him before he left, it would be worth it. Mrs. Higurashi was always kind to people that have gone out of their way to help others and even though it was such a small thing, allowing him to walk her home because she was cold and shivering, hopefully her mama would not mind.

There was a moment of hesitation on Mr. Taisho's face, but with a shake of the head, he raised his umbrella and began the long journey up the stairs with Kagome trudging beside him.

"If it will not bother anyone, I suppose so." He murmured quietly, a raindrop rolling down the side of his cheek.

Perhaps she was silly to invite this man in her house, or stupid for even trusting a stranger, but it was a shrine and it wasn't like they never entertained visitors when they came. In fact, she was well adapted in entertaining strangers. However, it wasn't everyday when your teenage daughter brought a handsome man to your house, especially when they had to be nearly twenty years older than them. Still, she hoped her mama would not mind.

Suddenly, voices were heard above them. Mr. Taisho looked up, and Kagome concentrated on making sure that her bag was securely strapped to her shoulder. The burden was lifted and to her surprise, as Souta came stumbling forward with a pink umbrella, the twinkling blue eyed man, without any trouble, carried the bag until they met her younger brother.

"Sister, who is this?" her brother asked, curiously eyeing the man. For some peculiar reason, this made Mr. Taisho grin.

"I'm Mr. Taisho," he gave a bow of the head. Souta's eyes seemed to positively glow with admiration.

"I am Souta." Souta smiled shyly, pink umbrella hovering over him.

Mr. Taisho nodded, continuing to tread up the stairs. The two siblings followed, both staring at his back. When they reached the top, Mr. Taisho handed them Kagome's bag and Kagome returned his black jacket. Before turning away to leave, a voice called forth from the shrine.

"Kagome, invite the poor man inside. He must be absolutely freezing!" exclaimed a voice, which was followed by the eager agreement from Souta.

Mr. Taisho claimed he did not want to be a bother. Kagome, out of politeness, claimed that he would be quite welcomed, and persuaded him to stay. Of course, she was not exactly as inviting as her family, having decided that if this stranger continued to intrude on their family, that she would not be able to visit the sacred tree as usual. However, she did feel bad for making him walk with her, even if it was out of the goodness of his heart.

"I can only stay a little while before I head back to my brother." He said while smiling faintly as Mrs. Higurashi appeared with a motherly tilt of her lips. She frowned at him thoughtfully, just briefly, before her expression cleared.

"Come in and I will set up a cup of tea for you, maybe some cookies too, if Father has not eaten them all yet. Thank you for taking care of my daughter, I was afraid she would catch a cold in this horrid weather we are having." Mrs. Higurashi took his jacket, hanging it up in the closet as she gestured inside. Kagome moved silently, tears stinging at the edges of her eyes as she left to change into dry clothes. She would not be able to sit underneath the sacred tree, but perhaps that could wait.

"Thank you, ma'am," Mr. Taisho said with a thin, weak smile. Unable to hide the way his eyes followed the form of his wife, who was not his wife.

"Inuyasha, I cannot believe you would do this!" Mrs. Higurashi's face hardened in a stern expression, her voice sharpening as she shook her head. "I thought we agreed that you would not visit my daughter."

"I-I couldn't help it. She looked so scared and vulnerable in the rain." He said with a far-away glance to the stairs. "Can I still have some tea?" he asked.

"Just wait until Sesshomaru finds out." This was not a threat, it was a warning.

Mr. Taisho, ahem, Inuyasha's face whitened.

A/N Yeah, there are other stories where Inuyasha sees Kagome in the present time while he is living there as well. But, even reading some of them, I always wondered how it would have helped Kagome return to the past. I'll probably write more of this story later, mainly because I would like to know what would happen and it isn't really complete, is it? If you see any mistakes, make sure you tell me!


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